(Reuters) – Silicon Valley startup Lyten announced on Tuesday its plan to build the world’s first gigafactory for lithium-sulfur batteries in Reno, Nevada, as companies seek to capitalize on the demand for more affordable power sources for electric vehicles.
With battery costs significantly impacting EV prices, automakers are increasingly looking for alternative technologies to make such vehicles accessible to a wider market.
Lyten, backed by Chrysler-parent Stellantis and delivery services provider FedEx, said it would invest more than $1 billion in the facility that would initially create 200 jobs, growing to more than 1,000 in northern Nevada.
Nevada’s Reno is also home to a Tesla gigafactory that produces battery packs and other components for its EVs.
Lyten’s facility can produce up to 10 gigawatt-hours of lithium-sulfur batteries annually at full scale and its first phase will start production in 2027.
Efforts to reduce reliance on China for battery materials have also encouraged companies to develop domestic supply chains in North America, but industry experts have cautioned that establishing a robust and independent supply chain for EV battery cells will take several years.
Lyten, founded in 2015, has been assembling batteries at its semi-automated facility in San Jose, California since May last year.
The company said its lithium-sulfur cells have high energy density, which could make it up to 40% lighter than lithium-ion cells.
The startup said it has a pipeline of hundreds of potential customers and its lithium-sulfur batteries would be used in drones, micromobility, space and defense markets in the next two years.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)